Woodland is located within Yolo County. Woodland and Davis are the two largest cities within Yolo County and County Fair Mall is the only mall servicing this marketplace. Faris Lee president Richard Walter says the lack of retail competition in the trade area was "extremely attractive" to the buyer.

Less attractive to the buyer were the deferred maintenance and the fact that Target, which owns its building, is rumored to be leaving the center, and J.C. Penney has less than 10 years left on its lease. In addition, the buyer had to assume the existing over-market securitized debt because the cost of defeasance would have been too high.

"Upon taking on the assignment, it was immediately clear that institutional buyers wouldn't be interested in the asset due to the loan terms and its current condition," Vaccaro says. "We utilized our…database of investors to…target individual developer type buyers who could seize the opportunity and attempt to turn the property around."

The original asking price for the mall--determined when Target was believed to be not only staying but also expanding--was $20 million. Faris Lee generated 12 offers for the property.